Microsoft partner Xamarin is expanding its free student developer program to make it easier for students to build iOS and Android apps with Visual Studio

“Now, students get free access to everything they need to become mobile app developers virtually overnight, creating native iOS and Android apps with Xamarin and Visual Studio. In the competitive job market, Xamarin for Students enables students to acquire highly in demand mobile skills free of charge,” said Xamarin Cofounder Joseph Hill in an April 7 blog post announcing the program’s expansion.

Xamarin initially launched Xamarin for Students last fall. At that time, students got the Xamarin Indie subscription for free, but they didn’t get the Visual Studio plug-in. With the expansion, Visual Studio integration gets added to the free student offer, similar to what’s provided in the Xamarin business license. As a result, students can build, deploy and debug iOS and Android Apps from Visual Studio, as well as within Xamarin Studio.

Xamarin also will be in the Microsoft Imagine/DreamSpark catalog starting today.